Lord Inquisitor Aegult Caidin
Lord Inquisitor Caidin is an enigma, even to the members of an organization known for deceit. It is said that one of the reasons he maintains his secrecy is so that he might walk unseen amongst the peoples of the Imperium and the ranks of the Inquisition. Some say he is everywhere, and that he sees and hears all that transpires within the dark halls of the Tricorn Palace. Veteran Inquisitors might dismiss such a rumor as intended merely to cow the lesser Acolytes, but others are not so sure. Some even whisper (with one eye on the shadows) that Inquisitor Lord Caidin might have multiple identities, and that several notable figures within the Ordos Calixis could all in fact be him. While he has never publicly stated his allegiance to an Ordo, Inquisitor Lord Caidin is in fact a member of the Ordo Malleus, and a very senior one at that. The Ordo Malleus has always been concerned with monitoring the Inquisition itself for signs of corruption brought about by the very enemy its members seek to defeat. Caidin’s name is linked with a number of very high profile internal purges, in which senior members of the Inquisition have been exposed as traitors, heretics, or worse. The fact that Caidin must surely have made many terrible enemies in the process goes a long way towards explaining his obsession with secrecy. Lord Caidin arrived in the Calixis Sector over two centuries ago, and even then he hid his face and shunned the company of his peers. He carried with him a mandate, to take on the leadership of the Ordo. Though none could deny his claim to authority, many in the High Council bitterly resented Caidin’s assumption of power, since they aspired to the appointment themselves. In the years that followed, many attempts were made to mobilize opposition to Caidin’s rule. Some factions, notably the Phaenonites and the Oblationists, came out against him, while many Inquisitor Lords plotted independently. Attempts were made to learn something of Caidin’s past, and a few found tantalizing clues of his involvement in calamitous events elsewhere in the galaxy. Some believed he was the Deliverer of the Perfidian Gap, who led a hundred Imperial Guard regiments to their doom yet returned victorious from the hell-worlds of that region. Some thought he was the power behind the forces barring the Gates of Fire. One rival claimed Caidin had fled to Calixis from a war-torn region on the other side of the galaxy, utilizing the Warp gate known as Van Grothe’s Rapidity, or perhaps some other, as yet undiscovered, gate on the Eastern Fringe to flee his enemies. Yet, Lord Caidin weathered the storms of his rivals’ denunciations, not through blood and counter-accusations as some in his position might have, but through the most subtle of maneuvering. Some rivals were too vocal to be allowed to continue their accusations, and these simply disappeared. To deal with the others, Caidin established himself over several decades as the very heart of the High Council of the Calixian Conclave, above the petty disputes between factions, blocs, and alliances. No matter what conflicts and rivalries may rage in the chamber or across the sector, Lord Caidin is the eye of the raging storm. He shows no undue favor and rarely needs to act against even the most extreme of factions. Somehow, Lord Caidin keeps order in the chamber, maintains the tenuous balance of power outside it, and according to some, watches over the very fate of the Calixis Sector according to some unknown mission. If Lord Caidin truly is, as some claim, a Lord of the Ordo Malleus tasked with monitoring the entire Calixian Conclave, then his power, and that of his Ordo, must be absolute (if all but unseen). With a single piece of data parchment, Caidin ascended to the most powerful position within the Ordo Calixis, and in effect controls every one of its hundreds of Inquisitors and thousands of Acolytes. The reasons that he and the Ordo Malleus were given such power must surely rank among Caidin’s most closely guarded secrets, and his true plans may only come to fruition when and if damnation threatens to consume the Calixis Sector.